When walking the shoreline of Lake Erie, one can instantly notice the integral role the lake plays in the lives of those residing in residential areas along the water.

Residents choose to embrace the lake in their own way. Families and friends find summer solace with picnics in the sand, wakeboarding and dips in the Great Lake’s cool water.

In mostly residential cities, opening the lake to the public continues to sprout opportunities of economic development and community engagement.

By the same token, the prominent presence of this public amenity — the fourth largest of the five Great Lakes — also may pose challenges that city officials in the residential areas of Rocky River, Avon Lake and Bay Village are working to solve for their residents.

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Rocky River: Investing in natural assets
With two public parks serving as fishing piers and areas for recreational activities like kayaking, Rocky River’s position along the lake holds great significance to the community, said Mayor Pamela Bobst.

The city is placing an emphasis on investing in the lakefront to continue this impact, connect the community and meet the needs of residents, Bobst said.

“We want to make sure our natural assets are celebrated in a way that honors the history and honors the way they’re used by our residents,” she said. “We can build a lot of things, but we can’t recreate those.”

This includes the investment in lakefront properties. With the average teardown of the lakefront being $1.2 million, according to Bobst, the market is strong despite the economic downturn.

This is in part due to residents’ investment in erosion control, which can be an issue for lakefront property owners.

“We’ve seen a significant amount of investment by private property owners to make sure that their property is protected,” she said.

While the beaches along Rocky River do not allow swimming, which has raised concerns by residents, Bobst noted this is not the city’s largest challenge in maintaining the lake, which consist of more than 58,000 square feet of public space.

Rather, the city struggles with cleaning driftwood and trash that washes up on the shore daily.

At one point, the lake had 14 overflows, and in the past five years, the city has and will invest more than $35 million in the sewage system to ensure the health of the lakefront.

“We clean it one day, and the next day it’ll be filled with driftwood,” the mayor said. “The health of Lake Erie is important to us, obviously for the strength of our residential properties, but also the draw that it is for the entire community and for individuals beyond our community.”

Avon Lake: Improving accessibility
In an effort to make what is mostly privately-owned lake property accessible to residents, Avon Lake continues to expand its property ownership on the lake, which has more than doubled over the years, noted Mayor Greg Zilka.

Zilka explained that over the past three years, the city has purchased three parcels along the lake and added them to Veterans Memorial Park — 4.5 acres of lakefront property on Lake Road.

In addition, the lake’s changing levels and sand buildup has led to an addition of a beach along Miller Road Park that has increased accessibility and draws more residents to the area, Zilka said.

“We hope that all of our residents can benefit from the lake, and we have expanded the amount of property we have along the lake,” he said.

Residents often take advantage of the coastline along an NRG-owned power plant, which dominates the shoreline and owns a “substantial” amount of property on the lake, Zilka said.

With the frontage of the plant amounting to about half a mile, the mayor said it poses danger to residents because of the strong currents and outflow of water from the plant, and “has unfortunately led to a number of tragedies” over the years, he said.

Zilka said although the majority of the lakefront is privately owned, if the power plant or other parcels became available, the city would exercise options in working with the state to purchase them and increase accessibility to the park.

“We have made every effort to make the lake available to our residents, and we’re pleased with what we have accomplished,” he said.

Bay Village: Impact on property values
Living on the waterfront continues to be a highly desirable venture in Bay Village. Due to properties dominating the shoreline, Mayor Deborah Sutherland explained the city sees the rise of lakefront property values, which benefits the city’s economic development.

Sutherland added smaller, older homes along the lake are being purchased, rebuilt, completely renovated and expanded upon, which drives up the property values along the lakefront. These properties can be worth up to $10 million, she said.

“As those lakefront values rise, it also brings with them the surrounding neighborhoods,” Sutherland said. “It has a very stabilizing and enhancing effect on real estate values.”

With these dominating residential properties also come challenges. Sutherland said Cahoon Park in Bay Village is under the provision that only part of Huntington Beach is open to the public.

Although Sutherland said the city sometimes receive complaints about this rule, she feels the positives of the lake outweigh the negatives, as most Bay Village residents are within walking distance of the lake and can enjoy its amenities.

“I think (the lake) is one of the most beautiful places in the world,” Sutherland said.